Community members denounce Wells Fargo & US Bank for their heartless treatment of cancer patients

Today actions in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Francisco will target Wells Fargo and US Bank, asking them to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month by halting foreclosures and evictions of cancer patients and others batting serious illness and instead negotiate fair and affordable mortgages that will allow families to stay in their homes.

The organizers are highlighting the cases of Jacqueline Barber of Georgia and Ana Casas Wilson in Los Angeles who are each battling cancer and working with housing activists to resist imminent evictions after facing foreclosure despite repeated pleas to the banks to renegotiate their home loans. Occupy Homes Atlanta activists have set up an encampment at the home of Jacqueline Barber, a retired police officer; the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) working to stop the eviction of Casas, a longtime advocate for the disabled.

Here are more details on the campaigns from Occupy Our Homes Atlanta:

Wells Fargo Bank and US Bank have chosen to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month by trying to evict cancer survivors from their homes.

After retried APD detective and Cancer survivor Jacqueline Baber’s story hit the airwaves and the newspapers other cancer survivors facing eviction across the country started to reach out to her, and they had more than cancer and eviction in common. It seems there’s a trend emerging that links cancer, US Bank, and Wells Fargo.

Ana Casas Wilson has lived in the same home near Los Angeles for 40 years. In 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her husband had to take some time off to care for her. Their income quickly rebounded, but they missed some mortgage payments. They tried to get back on track and work with the bank on modifications. Ana was born with cerebral palsy, and has been a passionate and effective advocate for the disabled.

Wells Fargo foreclosed on her anyway, refusing to accept her payments.

Jacqueline Barber spent 20 years on the Atlanta police force, only retiring when injured by a car in the line of duty. In 2009, the predatory loan on her house caused her payment to go up $1500, and she fought to stay current. Then she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and had to undergo aggressive treatment to save her life. She fought back against the disease, and spent months filling out forms and asking for modifications to her mortgage.

A Wells Fargo Executive Vice President assured he they were working on her case. Instead, they sold her loan to US Bank at foreclosure auction, and now she's fighting imminent eviction. The banks are refusing even to sell the home to friends and family who have banded together to help Jacqueline.

We're in the last week of Breast Cancer awareness month, but it seems like the only awareness Wall Street bankers have is of their foreclosure lists.

Today large petitions will be delivered by the Home Defenders League, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment , and other groups to US Banks headquarters(Minneapolis) and Wells Fargo’s headquarters(San Francisco) challenging them during breast cancer awareness month to stop the evictions of cancer patients.

Here are the details for the three protests today:

EVENTS: Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

Atlanta: 12 p.m. (Eastern time) Meet outside the 1401 Peachtree Street building. Jacqueline and her Lawyer, Joshua Davis, will also be announcing the filing of a lawsuit against US Bank for wrongful foreclosure. Joshua Davis will be on hand to discuss details of the lawsuit. Contact: Tim Franzen, 404-414-5521, tfranzen@afsc.org